I have to admit that it took me fifty years to understand that some band players are just 'hired guns', never knew about that, I always thought they just played in different bands as full members. So for that only this documentary was an eye opener for me, and a good reason to watch it. It was very interesting to see the view of those artists on the bands they played with, and how some of those 'celebrities' are just a bunch of egoistic egocentric bastards, like Billy Joel in this documentary. He's a heartless very self-centered egoistic prick that doesn't deserve anybody buying his music. On the other hand you can witness what a wonderful guy his drummer Liberty DeVitto is, still forgiving everything and playing for peanuts. But there are also others than Billy Joel that are just wannabe good people and I guess that once you got a bit of success you just look at other people like they are your possession. In this documentary you also discover nice celebrities, with a golden heart, like Alice Cooper, Ozzy and Pink, not directly people that I would have thought being nice persons in daily life. So never judge a book by it's cover. The documentary is very well made, with tons of relevant interviews of great side artists, guitar and drum virtuoses that made the name of some big bands without ever being recognized. Interviews with hired guns, producers, artists and so on, it all passes the revue and it's very interesting and pleasant to listen to. If you are a music fan you should definitely watch Hired Gun. I will always listen to music in a different way now.

What a wonderful, engaging, funny, sometimes sad look at the life of a session musician, the guys who are hired to play on another musicians recordings. I consider this the companion piece to the excellent "Wrecking Crew" documentary.Often anonymous, these guys and girls are the backbone to many of your favorite artists. As someone who played drums for many years and dreamt of being in a traveling band, I realized years ago what a grind touring could be. Many artists are interviewed and they are all candid about the business side of music, and what it takes to make it. Rob zombie puts it thus: You have to be the best musician, but also willing to put the spotlight on the main artist. Most importantly though, you need to be someone that can live on the road 24/7 with others and not be annoying! Toiling away, night after night, for little pay can drain anyone, and it does take a toll. Even those that were very successful can be dumped for no reason, sending the artist out looking for work. Liberty Devitto, the drummer for Billy Joel for many years, was dumped by Joel along with his bandmates, one of whom later killed himself. It's a hell of a way to make a living, and the heights are high, but the pitfalls are always around the corner. A must watch for any music fan!

Really enjoyed watching this and learned a lot about the lives these guys had.What struck me in the end was nobody was overly bitter (at least in this film) or resentful other than the lack of communication when their time was up.They seemed to know the precarious edge that chose to live on and what that meant in job security.But happy to have been part of something big and creative.

I wanted to watch this documentary after I read that Steve Vai was in the credited cast because I'm a huge fan of his unique style and of his work throughout the years. In my opinion, he is the ultimate hired gun ever, being "used" by "gunslingers" like Frank Zappa (who used to call him "Stunt Guitarist" and "Little Italian Virtuoso"), Graham Bonnet, David Lee Roth and David Coverdale. And guess what? He barely talks in this documentary. I think that in total he has less than thirty seconds on screen saying a few thoughts of his about the business. It' so disappointing watching all the other musicians in this video talking about their adventures and misadventures in their lives while waiting for something that never takes place: Steve Vai's stories of his amazing career. Not to mention that exceptional hired guns like Joe Satriani and Steve Morse in Deep Purple or Yngwie Malmsteen in Alcatrazz are not even mentioned. The documentary is okay, but gets boring after a while. They aimed too low and missed a lots of great "shots".